Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Snatched

Jess is a snatcher. He specializes in cell phones. Being poor, he has resigned himself to the reality that he will be suspected of stealing even if he wouldn't actually do it. So to save everyone the trouble, he learned to embrace the stereotype.

Grace is a call center agent, and a modern woman with a secret. And she would do anything to retrieve that secret from her stolen cell phone even if it meant scouring the streets of Quiapo for the snatcher with the help of the police.

In an interesting and very realistic turn, Posas (Shackles) tackles the twists and turns of police procedures, and the lives of the people embroiled in it: victim, perpretrator, and the enforcers themselves. In the end, as Jess' handcuffs were removed, he finally and palpably felt the shackles latched on to him.

Beautifully shot and subtly acted, it was a joy to watch. Having heard nothing about the film prior to viewing, I had no expectations whatsoever, and I was happily rewarded for my gamble. The scene with Susan Africa is easily a favorite.

Posas and four other films are in competition under the Director's Showcase of Cinemalaya. Ten more films are also competing in the New Breed category for budding directors.

I'm looking forward to seeing a good number of these, and no storm signal will deter me from going to the CCP to buy tickets. For a couple of years now, I have organized marathon screenings of select movies for me and my friends. The raging weekend storm almost prevented me from being able to procure tickets. Experience has told me to buy them on the first weekend because most movies will sell out by the next week of screenings.

So brave the rains, I did, thankful for the few minutes' respite from rain while travelling on foot. It felt good having reserved those tickets for our weekend marathon. It meant one less detail to worry about.